THE next general election seems to be quite imminent, if you go by the Bernama report released recently.

No formal announcements have been made, but Election Commission’s chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman has been quoted to say that all quarters should gear up for the 12th general election so none will lag in their preparations.

With nationwide briefings for election preparations to end in one-and-a-half months, Malaysian voters are certainly expecting to see a lot of campaigning sometime soon.

For first-time voters, they can only wonder what will take place. If you read articles on election campaigns from other parts of the world, things can get pretty interesting, especially with the use of information and communications technology (ICT).

In Australia, for example, Labor challenger Kevin Rudd is building up an army of young supporters through the social networking site Facebook. Prime Minister John Howard prefers video-sharing Web site YouTube as his election weapon, unveiling a string of announcements online for tech-savvy voters aged between 18 and 34.

Their efforts are quite strategic as up to one million young Australians will be voting for the first time at the election. Their support will be crucial to the result, with voting compulsory for the 13.6 million Australians over 18 years old.

In Kenya, ICT is being

positioned as a platform to fish for young voters aged between 18 and 40, who comprise 60.8 per cent of all registered voters.

With the ubiquitous nature of the Internet and convergence of technologies, the virtual battlefield looks set to be the next frontier for politicians. So, what will it be like here in Malaysia?

Whatever that will take place and on whichever

platform, Abdul Rashid has

assured that the general election in the country will be free, fair and transparent, in accordance with existing laws.